Gondorian spearman is a very good chump blocker. He's fairly cheap, and can attack a bit before you need him for defense, or quest with visionary leadership. With Thalin and a spear of the citadel, he can take out 160 of the game's 531 enemies. Get a few of these out, play a stand together and hold the line, and watch as the enemies go down.

My favourite cheap blocker, usually always added to my decks. His special power is very useful as first strike for stronger enemies with bigger as well as the last shot for dying enemy, which is the better case. Goes very well with Swift Strike, Thalin and Dúnhere as well. And the artwork is great. Verdict: 5/5.

I don't know about this guy. You're paying 2 for an ally that's constantly in danger of getting killed, and once you're past the first cycle's swarms of bats and crows, there's not many things he can one-shot. He's in a strange place between disposable and important. It is enticing to build an elaborate system with Thalin, Spear of the Citadels and Honour Guards, but at that point you could just have a bunch of normal allies doing normal fighting. Always feels good when the enemy's last hit point happens to line up, though.

Good ally that becomes great on some scenarios, like the 7th Level in Khazad-dum. There are not many good options with Tactics allies through the second cycle of the game, so Gondorian Spearman gets used a good deal, especially as a chump blocker that whittles down enemy health.

As I expand my collection, many of the core set allies that used to find themselves in lots of my decks (Snowbourn Scout as an example) become less and less useful over time. Gondorian Spearman here is the opposite. The more options for little bits of direct damage that I get my hands on, the more useful this guy gets.

1. His ability is great. I view it less as an ally ability and more as an event that reads 'when an enemy with only 1 remaining health attacks, cancel that attack and kill that enemy.' When you add Spear of the Citadel, you make that 2 remaining health. As my card pool expands there are more and more ways to chip away at enemies health that soften them up without killing them (Infighting, Ranger Bow, Galadhon Archer). With each one in your deck, pulling off Gondorian Spearman kills get that much easier. I particularly like having him in decks/ fellowships with Haldir of Lórien, who can attack before the enemies. Quick Strike is another obvious, but expensive combo.

2. All of this is well and good. But what makes him great (IMO) is that sentinel keyword. That means he can take down ANY one health enemy in your game!

His biggest downside? That 1hp makes him very vulnerable. It can be overcome with some damage cancellation Gondorian Discipline, but aside from that he is quite squishy. The upside is that he will not be questing, so lots of those 'damage questing/exhausted characters' shouldn't impact him.

At worst a 2-cost emergency defender anywhere on the board which is already not terrible. At best, Gondorian Spearman deals the last point of damage to the enemy it defends, killing it outright before the attack resolves. Needless to say, while that interaction usually takes a little setup, it is fantastic once it happens. So how difficult is it to set up such a situation? Well, not as difficult as it might seem, especially in higher player counts. Spear of the Citadel on Gondorian Spearman lowers the bar considerably with the enemy now only needing two more damage, but there are a host of other options out there, be they Thalin, Reckless Attack, Goblin-cleaver or Argalad. There is also some possible trickery with the likes of Stand Together or Hold the Line, making multiple copies of Gondorian Spearman defend at once.

All in all and in the context of a modern cardpool, I don't really run Gondorian Spearman in any deck except direct damage decks. In those decks however, it is almost always an automatic 3x, being a long-standing staple and centerpiece of said archetype.

Rating: 7/10

Decks of mine using Gondorian Spearman

All my card ratings